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Franklin's Gull

Franklin's Gull

Leucophaeus pipixcan

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Franklin's Gull is a small, migratory hooded gull that breeds in colonies on prairie marshes of central Canada and the northern United States. In summer it has a black hood, a red bill and legs and dark grey upperwings with black tips bordered by a white band. It makes long flights to winter along the Pacific coast of South America, from Peru to Chile, and is a rare vagrant elsewhere, including Europe.

Did you know?

  • Its name honours the Arctic explorer Sir John Franklin.
  • Unusually for a gull, it moults its flight feathers twice a year.

About the species

Identification

In breeding plumage the adult has a black hood with a clear, thick white eye-ring and a dark red bill and legs. The upperwings are dark grey, and the outer primaries have black-and-white tips separated from the grey by a white band; the underparts may show a pink flush. In winter the hood is only partly lost, leaving a dark half-hood. Young birds have dark upperwings, a dark tail band and dark patches on the head.

Family

Laridae

Size

Large (crow)

Colours

grey, white, black, red

About the habitat

Breeds in prairie marshes and lakes with emergent vegetation; on migration fields and wetlands; in winter Pacific coasts of South America.

Diet

Omnivorous, feeding heavily on insects, especially in the breeding season – hawking swarms in the air and picking them from the ground and water; also small fish, earthworms and scraps.

Behaviour

Highly social and colonial, it nests on floating platforms in marshes, laying two to three eggs that hatch after about three weeks. It forages in flight over insect swarms and follows ploughs, and in spring flocks may drift down rivers picking insects from the surface before flying back upstream.

Sources

Photo: Polinova, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FranklinsGull.jpg

Text: Wikipedia (English), CC BY-SA 4.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin%27s_gull

See also